Tag Archives: Laurence Anyways

Xavier Dolan’s eagerly anticipated third film, Laurence Anyways, has not even been released yet (it hits theaters on May 18th), but the brilliant young Canadian director has already announced his decision to adapt a play by Michel Marc Bouchard, Tom à la ferme. This marks the first time the director will adapt a script not of his own making. For now, Xavier Dolan’s own production company Mifilims will be handling the film. After a staging of the play in Montreal last year, the director asked Michel Marc Bouchard who would be making the film version, and when the playwright said he had no idea, Dolan replied that he would be doing it. Meanwhile, the two have already begun collaborating on the screenplay. The story revolves around a man named Tom, whose lover has just died. He meets the family of the deceased, to discover that the mother knew nothing of their relationship, or of her son’s sexual orientation. The brother of the deceased forces Tom to conceal the truth from the mother, threatening him with severe reprisals should he reveal the secret. Michel Marc Bouchard is an internationally recognized author and playwright who has written over twenty plays for the theater.

The amazingly gifted Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan’s Laurence Anyways has been invited to Cannes, to be screened in the Un Certain Regard selection. The director expressed disappointment his film won’t be in competition, but how many 23-year-olds can boast of walking the Croisette three times in a row? The movie takes place in 1989. At a party celebrating his thirtieth birthday, Laurence informs his girlfriend of his desire to become a woman. The wonderful French actress Nathalie Baye plays the man’s mother. Watch the English-subtitled trailer below.